About Me

Gregg Walker is a Harlem Resident and 1997 graduate of Yale Law School who worked as an investment banker for 9 years and was the Vice President of Strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions at Viacom for 3 years. Gregg served as the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Sony from 2009 to 2016, and he launched his own private investing firm in July 2016 (www.gawalker.co). Gregg was chosen in 2010 by Crain's as one of NYC's 40 Under 40 Rising Stars (http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/40under40/profiles/2010/gregg-walker). Gregg is a Deacon at Abyssinian Baptist Church and served as the chairman of the Board of the Harlem YMCA. He has served on the Boards of movie studio MGM and music publishing companies Sony/ATV and EMI Music Publishing. He is also a Board member of Harlem RBI and Derek Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation. He is a former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a representative of the US at the 2002 Young Leaders Conference of the American Council on Germany. Gregg is also a member of many other foundations and community organizations.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Slowing Stop and Frisk

After repeated increases, the number of stop and frisk
incidents declined 25% in the second quarter of 2012 compared with 2011. The
reasons for the decline are many.

Abuse

Ever since Bloomberg became Mayor, the tactic of stopping
and frisking innocent New Yorkers has become an obsession for NYC law
enforcement. The number of stops has risen from less than 100,000 in the pre-Bloomberg era to nearly 700,000 last year. Nearly 90% of those stopped are
Black or Hispanic, but white residents who are stopped are more than twice as
likely to be carrying illegal weapons or drugs. More than 90% of those stopped
are not issued a summons or arrested. Even in low-crime neighborhoods and white neighborhoods, Black and Hispanic New Yorkers are stopped in far larger number than their population would suggest appropriate. These stops are a terrorist tactic adopted
by Mayor Bloomberg and used as the primary law enforcement approach by the
NYPD.

The protest and the class action suit seem to be having
an impact on law enforcement tactics.

In the months, of April, May, and June of 2012, NYPD officers conducted 25% less stops than in the same period in 2011. But, the
number of stops was still a sky-high 133,000. We cannot accept these outrageous
tactics. The 25% decline is not nearly enough. NYC is still on pace to have
more than 600,000 stops in 2012, and such a performance would reinforce the need
for the Mayor and the police commissioner to resign.

Letitia James, a critic of stop-and-frisk, isn't buying
the NYPD's rationale. "I reject their reason for the reduction in
stop and frisks. The reduction in stop and frisks is directly related to the
criticism of the practice, of the abuse of the practice."

Officers tell WNYC that the 2nd quarter drop was
expected, due to a reluctance by cops to conduct stops under growing
controversy about the tactic.

The New York Civil Liberties Union said it was encouraged
by the data. “This reduction is a good start, but much more needs to be done to
rebuild community trust and protect New Yorkers from illegal and racially
biased street stops,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a
statement.

Let's hope that the "much more" Donna Lieberman
wishes for will come in short order.